Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik
Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik (Image Credit: Twitter)

Kolkata Knight Riders keeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has opened up on the events leading to his stepping down from the captaincy position in IPL 2020. Dinesh Karthik shockingly stepped down as the skipper of the franchise midway through the tournament, paving the way for Eoin Morgan to take over. The veteran cricketer underlined that Eoin Morgan was initially baffled by Karthik’s decision to step down before explaining him everything.

Dinesh Karthik took charge of Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018 and led the franchise to the playoffs and was doing a decent job even in 2020. However, the 35-year old decided to abruptly step down from the leadership spot. Eoin Morgan, who ushered England to World Cup glory that year before, was the favourite to take over and he did. But the Irishman could not sneak the Knight Riders into the playoffs despite his best efforts.

Dinesh Karthik Reveals The Conversation He Had With Eoin Morgan Before Quitting As Kolkata Knight Riders Captain
Venky Mysore. (Credits: Twitter)

Dinesh Karthik credited the stakeholders at the KKR for handling the situation and understanding his position and readily accepted Eoin Morgan as captain. But the Tamil Nadu-born player revealed that Morgan was hesitant as captaincy was high-pressure spot. Karthik stated that Morgan came over to enjoy himself in the IPL and did his best as the vice-captain.

“We were aware of it. I think a lot of credit should be given to KKR because they handled it very well. They understood my situation. I was the problem, nobody else. From the moment, I’m not very sure, then they’re like ‘fine, there’s Morgan’. He (Morgan) actually was very reluctant. For him, he’s captaining England, such a high-pressure thing. He wants to come and play the IPL and enjoy it. And he was thoroughly enjoying it up to the point. He was vice-captain so basically, it’s about helping me,” Karthik told Gaurav Kapur in his podcast ’22 Yards.

It was handled very well by KKR, Venky Mysore, Shahrukh: Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik (Image Credits: Twitter)

Dinesh Karthik further stated that when he discussed the same with Eoin Morgan, he responded by asking Karthik about his decision to step down. The right-handed keeper-batsman revealed that it was his personal issues and had nothing to do with cricket or franchise. With that, Morgan was ready to take over and Karthik praised Venky Mysore and Shahrukh Khan for the way they handled it.

But when I said this, he said ‘no, no’. And we were high on the table too; we had played some seven games and won four. We were No. 4 or 3 on the table. He said ‘are you crazy? Why would you do this? I don’t understand what you’re trying to do.’ Then I explained things to him. Personally, what was happening and then it was something that was more about my personal issues that happened rather than it being cricket or the franchise or anything like that. So when the personal issue happened, that was the main reason and then he said, ‘Ok, I’ll do it.’ And it was handled very well by KKR… Venky Mysore, Shahrukh,” he added.

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